Description
Self-Portrait with Cigarette by Edvard Munch is an expressionist painting from 1895, held under accession number NG.M.00470 by the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo: he wears a dark suit with a white collar and a dark bow tie. His right hand is lifted in front of his chest; the cigarette smoulders between the fingers and the smoke rises as a thin bright thread beside the right side of his head. With us it is made as a hand-painted reproduction in oil, brushed onto canvas; you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch, and you choose between ten sizes or a size of your own.
| Title: | Self-Portrait with Cigarette |
| Other titles: | Avtoportret s cigareto · Autoportret s cigaretom · Selbstbildnis mit Zigarette · Autoritratto con sigaretta · Önarckép cigarettával |
| Painter: | Edvard Munch (1863–1944) |
| Year: | 1895 |
| Original size: | 85,5 cm x 110,5 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Expressionism |
| Location: | National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo (NG.M.00470) |
| Our reproduction: | a hand-painted work in oil, ten sizes from 40 x 50 cm to 180 x 230 cm, stretched on a stretcher bar, unframed |
Self-Portrait with Cigarette – Edvard Munch
What is shown?
He wears a dark suit with a white collar and a dark bow tie. His right hand is lifted in front of his chest; the cigarette smoulders between the fingers and the smoke rises as a thin bright thread beside the right side of his head. Face and hand are lit from below, as if by footlights, so that the cheeks and forehead are the brightest plane on the canvas. The eyes are wide open and look straight out. The lower part of the body dissolves into bluish grey and violet vertical drags, so that the figure literally disappears into the background towards the lower edge. The background itself is a smoky blue-grey field without space and without objects; around the head the light gathers a little and reads as a pale glow. The figure takes almost the full height of the canvas and stands a little left of centre, leaving room at the right for the rising smoke. There is nothing else: no furniture, no window, no floor by which to measure a distance.
What is painted on the original?
The canvas is signed and dated: E.Munch 1895. The painter was thirty-one at the time, with an eventful Berlin period behind him. Lighting a sitter from below was unusual in the portraiture of those years, and so was letting the body be lost into the background at its edges – an unusually open image of uncertainty for a self-portrait. The 1890s were the decade in which most of his best-known motifs were made, and this self-portrait belongs squarely inside it.
Why does this painting matter?
Expressionism works here not through a story but through what is actually visible on the canvas: the 1890s were the decade in which most of his best-known motifs were made, and this self-portrait belongs squarely inside it. That is why the work belongs to this painting style and not merely to the period it was made in. Munch used the same approach across a run of works from those years, and this is one of them; what makes it worth looking at is the relation between what is painted precisely and what is left open.
What does the painting mean?
We keep to what is visible. The canvas is signed and dated: E.Munch 1895. What that means the canvas does not say in words, and that is exactly why the work has stayed open to interpretation. There are no names on the canvas and none in the record we hold; anyone who sees particular people or a particular story in the scene is adding it, and we do not claim it. What is beyond dispute is the arrangement and the colour: what is painted, and nothing further.
Where does the work sit among Munch’s works?
The same painterly approach returns in other Munch works on this shelf: The Girls on the Bridge, Death in the Sickroom, The Dance of Life, The Sick Child. Where exactly this work stands among them is a matter of reading and not of the record; we state only what is on the canvas and in the inventory. The whole range is in the Edvard Munch gallery.
How is our hand-painted version made?
This is a painting on canvas made with brush and oil colour, not with a printer. The painter works from a high-resolution reference and builds the scene from the back forward, layer by layer, so that the transitions between tones stay soft. Because every hand-painted copy is made for its own order, no two match down to the detail; small differences in the laying-on are a mark of the human hand and not a fault.
Which size for which wall?
If you are unsure: 104 x 135 cm. The 48 x 62 cm size is the closest of all to the proportion of the original. The format is upright, so it asks for height, not width. 40 x 50 cm, 48 x 62 cm, 60 x 80 cm belong in a hallway or among several smaller works, 73 x 94 cm, 85 x 110 cm, 104 x 135 cm are the real painting for the living room or a quiet corner of a bedroom, 110 x 140 cm, 130 x 170 cm, 150 x 195 cm, 180 x 230 cm are for large walls and rooms with enough distance. All ten sizes are made to order; none is held in stock as an already painted work.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the ten sizes suits your wall, we paint to your measurements and keep the proportion of the reference, so the scene is not stretched; that is our painting made to measure. Every example arrives stretched on a wooden stretcher bar, ready to hang; the stretcher bar can be left off at the order. On this page the canvas is offered without a frame; the frame is chosen separately with our 3D application, which shows every one of our frame profiles on this motif. The application is for frame choice only. If you would like to see how the work will look on your own wall, that is our separate room-placement service.
Delivery and guarantee
Every example is made to order in our studio, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on size. We ship it stretched on a wooden stretcher bar and protected for transport, without customs inside the European Union; the frame is not included and is chosen separately with our 3D application, which is for frame choice only. Every canvas painting we make is made the same way, including paintings by famous painters from other periods; we write about Munch’s path in our article on Edvard Munch.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo, under accession number NG.M.00470. We read the detail on the museum’s own record page.
Who or what is shown in the painting?
He wears a dark suit with a white collar and a dark bow tie. His right hand is lifted in front of his chest; the cigarette smoulders between the fingers and the smoke rises as a thin bright thread beside the right side of his head. We can name none of the figures: there are no names on the canvas and none in the record we hold.
Is Avtoportret s cigareto the same work?
Yes. The work is listed under several titles across languages, among them Avtoportret s cigareto; what identifies it reliably is the accession number, not the title.
Is this a print?
No. The order is painted by hand in oil colour onto canvas; the brushstrokes can be seen and felt.
Which size should I choose?
The 104 x 135 cm size is our recommendation for an ordinary wall. The 48 x 62 cm size is the closest of all to the proportion of the original. For other walls see the guide above.
Can I have a size that isn’t listed?
Yes, we paint to measure and keep the side ratio of the reference.
How is it delivered?
Stretched on the stretcher bar and protected for transport, in 15 to 45 days, once you confirm the photograph of the finished work.
What is the painting about, in one sentence?
In one sentence: there is nothing else: no furniture, no window, no floor by which to measure a distance.
Is the original for sale and what is it worth?
No. The work is in a public collection and is not for sale; we give no value for it, because we have none from a source we could check. A hand-painted canvas is the one way to have this scene at home.
How high should I hang it?
The centre at eye level, roughly 145–150 cm from the floor; above a sofa 15–25 cm over the back. Because the format is upright, leave some empty wall above and below it.
Is it suitable as a gift?
As a work of art it is a considered gift; in the middle sizes it arrives stretched and ready to hang. If you would rather leave the choice to the recipient, a gift voucher is available.
- Subject: he wears a dark suit with a white collar and a dark bow tie. His right hand is lifted in front of his chest; the cigarette smoulders between the fingers and the smoke rises as a thin bright thread beside the right side of his head
- Original: oil on canvas, 1895, 85,5 cm x 110,5 cm, National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo, inv. no. NG.M.00470
- Ours: a hand-painted work in oil, ten sizes from 40 x 50 cm to 180 x 230 cm, stretched on a stretcher bar, unframed
- Worth knowing: the original measures 85,5 cm x 110,5 cm and its format is upright
